Morning radio show host chooses job that delivers
THE taste of eggs and orange juice may never be the same for fans of Callum Procter.
The longserving radio broadcaster and cohost of top rating Dunedin breakfast show Callum and P Breakfast, on The Hits, said goodbye and turned the microphone off, leaving the show yesterday.
Mr Procter (50) had cohosted the show with Patrina Roche since 2009.
Though he said he expected to return to radio at some point, it would not be in the near future.
Yesterday was emotional, he said.
There were tears.
But leaving radio to be a courier was also a relief.
He needed some time to unwind, and he did not want to continue in the job until it became stale and he became jaded.
He said he always knew he wanted a career on the airwaves: he started parttime as an 18yearold in Dunedin, before breaking into fulltime broadcasting work the next year.
He knocked on a door one day and ‘‘arrogantly asked for a job’’.
The bosses saw something in him and then over the next 32 years Mr Procter honed his communications skills, working alongside some greats in the radio world.
Now, the workday change he was making was surprising for many.
Mr Procter said people found it strange that he was leaving radio broadcasting to become a courier driver.
But that was simply what he wanted to do.
Arriving at work at 5am for a 6am to 9am show was not the problem.
In fact, he would never sleep in again for the rest of his life, Mr Procter said.
Hosting a radio show was a very public job while he was ‘‘strangely’’ a private person.
Becoming a courier business driver was something totally different, something energetic, however, he did expect to pop up at Dunedin events from time to time.